Huard: Carroll gives ‘statement of leadership’ by admitting Seahawks’ arrogance

For the first time in roughly two months, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll spoke to members of the media about his team and his new-look coaching staff.

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Carroll covered a lot during his 23-minute press conference, but what stood out?

For former NFL quarterback Brock Huard, he said Carroll’s very candid comments about Seattle’s defense really surprised him.

“I think the the biggest and most glaring is I don’t think I’ve ever heard Pete say we’ve been too arrogant,” Huard told Mike Salk on 710 ESPN Seattle on Thursday. “Have we ever even heard anything close to that? Never.”

The Seahawks once-historic defense of the early- and mid-2010s has been a thing of the past in recent years as Seattle has fielded one of the worst pass defenses in the league year in and year out. Carroll noted Wednesday that the Seahawks have been good against the run, but have struggled in other areas and that Seattle has been “a little bit arrogant in how we play defense.”

“We’ve been able to do it and just go ahead and play what we want to play,” he said. “It’s not it’s not that time right now. It’s time to keep moving and keep growing.”

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That statement is certainly notable. So where did that come from?

“I think from, from my perspective and just my speculation, I think that came out of end of year meetings with an ownership group that demanded just kind of competitive accountability, that this isn’t good enough, that the numbers and the data that the defense the last few years (haven’t been good enough),” Huard said. ” Whether it was your belief that you are going to be outside the box and play base (in 2019), and you’re gonna play base when everybody else is playing nickel and nope, it’s gonna work and it’s gonna be good, and it wasn’t good. And this year (in 2021) we’re gonna play five down (linemen) and we’re gonna play Cover-2 behind it, and sure, we’re gonna give up yards and lots of yards. But you know what, in the end, we’re going to be better for it. And you’re just not.”

Huard called Carroll’s comments a “strong statement.”

“And I’ll tell you one more thing, man, that’s a statement of leadership. It’s a statement of leadership, to say, ‘Yep, we’re too arrogant and it starts with me. And we’re going to make the changes and we’re going to get younger, we’re going to get more innovative, we’re going to bring other people into this mix and we’re going to be different,” Huard said. “And that’s quite a statement.”

Listen to the entire second hour of Thursday’s Mike Salk Show at this link or in the player below.

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